The video of a SpaceX rocket coming back to Earth could help NASA with future Mars missions. Thermal images of the Falcon 9 rocket descending after helping send a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station give rocket scientists a better idea of how to create ships that can safely get to the surface of Mars, all without having to send up a separate mission of their own.
'Because the technologies required to land large payloads on Mars are significantly different than those used here on Earth, investment in these technologies is critical,' said Robert Braun, principal investigator for NASA's Propulsive Descent Technologies in a statement. 'This is the first high-fidelity data set of a rocket system firing into its direction of travel while traveling at supersonic speeds in Mars-relevant conditions. Analysis of this unique data set will enable system engineers to extract important lessons for the application and infusion of supersonic retro-propulsion into future NASA missions.'
In other words, NASA doesn't have to rely on just its own missions anymore to collect data. The advent of Elon Musk's SpaxeX company and the growing competition to build better rockets give the agency data without necessarily having been involved in the design and engineering itself, which can put it years ahead with its own work.
'NASA's interest in building our Mars entry, descent and landing capability and SpaceX's interest and experimental operation of a reusable space transportation system enabled acquisition of these data at low cost, without standing up a dedicated flight project of its own,' said Charles Campbell, PDT project manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in a statement.
To capture the image, NASA sent up two high-altitude research jets, one from the navy and one of its own, to observe the rocket coming down off the coast of Georgia, staying a safe 50 miles away and using long-range detection equipment to watch it land. Unlike first-stage rockets that used to be common, the Falcon 9 saves some of its fuel to slow its landing in the water, keeping it from breaking up and allowing it to be reused again. That's always been a main goal for SpaceX, and the principle applies to how NASA envisions future space expeditions as well.
'Through our partnership with SpaceX we're gaining access to real-world test data about advanced rocket stage design and retro-propulsion,' said Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate administrator for Space Technology. 'Through this partnership we're saving the taxpayer millions of dollars we'd otherwise have to spend to develop and test rockets and flights in-house. This is another great example of American companies partnering with NASA to enable our future exploration goals.'
Check out the video NASA got of the rocket coming down below.
Entities 0 Name: NASA Count: 11 1 Name: SpaceX Count: 3 2 Name: Earth Count: 2 3 Name: Elon Musk Count: 1 4 Name: Propulsive Descent Technologies Count: 1 5 Name: Georgia Count: 1 6 Name: Charles Campbell Count: 1 7 Name: Robert Braun Count: 1 8 Name: Johnson Space Center Count: 1 9 Name: Dragon Count: 1 10 Name: American Count: 1 11 Name: navy Count: 1 12 Name: Michael Gazarik Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/107AjlZ Title: NASA eyes SpaceX soft-landing technology for future Mars missions Description: Space Exploration Technologies ( ) has been working to develop technologies to increase capabilities in terms of spaceflight - while keeping related costs down. One such effort, the use of descent capabilities on the first stage of the company's Falcon 9 v1.1 booster - has caught NASA's attention.
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